Golf ball retriever



Aug. 9, 1966 H. 'r. JENKINS GOLF BALL RETRIEVER Filed June '1. 1964 United States Patent Oifice 3265,43 Patented August 9, 1966 3,265,430 GOLF BALL RETRIEVER Homer T. Jenkins, 266 E. Illinois St, Chicago, Ill. Filed June 1, 1964, Ser. No. 371,515 3 Claims. (Cl. 294-19) This invention relates to golf ball retrievers and particularly relates to a unit where the retrieving action at least in part is due to opposed members spaced apart sufficiently to wedge the ball therebetween.

A primar object of my invention is a golf ball retriever which can quickly and positively pick up a ball.

.Another object is a retriever unit which is simple in construction and may be economically manufactured.

Another object is a retriever unit in which the wedging or grasping part is pivotally joined to an end of an elongated handle so that the wedging part may be differently positioned to most conveniently pick up a golf ball.

Another object is a golf ball retriever in which the wedging part and the handle part are economically made and a pivot or hinge connection therebetween is also economically made and assembled.

Still another object is a retrieving unit having a wedging part to pick up a golf ball by rolling the ball into a progressively tighter wedging retention.

Still another object is a retriever unit wherein the wedging part has substantially rigid, spaced members adapted to instantaneously provide a secure wedge upon contact with the ball.

Still another object is a retriever having a wedging part which can pick up a golf ball by passing the ball through a pair of adjoining resiliently flexible members and hold a plurality of golf balls within an area defined by a plurality of such resiliently flexible members.

Such objects are attained along with other objects which will become apparent from considering my invention which will be described in detail and which is shown in the attached drawings wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view with parts removed of one form of my retriever unit;

FIGURE 2 is a bottom plan view of the embodiment shown in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a sectional view along line 3-3 of FIG- URE 2;

FIGURE 4 is a side view with parts removed of another form of my invention;

FIGURE 5 is a bottom plan view of the unit shown in FIGURE 4; and

FIGURE 6 is a perspective view of another form of my invention, with parts removed.

The embodiment in FIGURES 1 to 3 is a wedging unit shown generally as 8 having a double socket plug 9 fixed to the wedging unit by cement, a screw or the like. A rounded top part 10 of the unit is shown as seated in one socket and aball or sphere is frictionally and movably seated in the other socket as shown by hidden lines at 12. The plug may be made entirely from resilient material such as rubber, or only the socket which holds the ball may be of resilient material. The ball or sphere forms a universal joint with the end 13 of an elongated handle which may be telescoped to a bigger handle section. A resilient collar 15 may be positioned between handle sections to hold the elongated handle in a set extended position. The ball wedging part has what I call a rolling wedge unit which includes spaced side walls 16 and 18 substantially longer than the diameter of a golf ball. I provide that these side walls are held in spaced position generally parallel to each other, by various means. For instance, it may be a one-piece unit having a top wall 20 merging by a curved path into a back wall 22.

I also provide that each side wall has a greater height towards one end than at the other end, thus, in the form shown, the back of the rolling wedge unit has greater height as indicated by line X than the front which is indicated by line Y. This arrangement allows the golf ball to become wedged more tightly between the greater opposed areas of the side walls as it rolls toward the back of the rolling wedge unit. The position of the retained and wedged ball is indicated by phantom outline 24 in FIGURE 3.

The rolling wedge unit may be rigidly fixed to the end of the elongated handle but I prefer that it be joined by a pivot hinge or universal joint. While many pivotal joints may be devised I have provided a simple and economical form, such as the one described and shown in FIGURE 1. I also show a similarly economical unit in IFIGURE 3, and it includes a sphereor ball 26 securely fixed to wedging roll unit as by a screw 28 which passes through the top wall of the unit into the sphere. The sphere is frictionally but movably positioned in a cup 3% made of resilient material such as rubber. The cup with the sphere is frictionally seated within the hollow end 32 of the end of the elongated handle 14. In this embodiment, the wedging unit, sphere and elongated handle may all be formed from a substantially rigid plastic such as polyethylene. The elongated handle may be a plastic tube such as is commonly used to hold golf clubs in the golfing bag. Several such tubes may be provided with adjoining ends dimensioned for telescoping or other mating connections. This arrangement will extend the length of the handle for retrieving golf balls at adistance from where the user is manipulating the golf 7 ball retriever.

In FIGURES 4 and 5 I show another form of the wedging unit indicated generally at 36. This unit has a pair of curve-d arms 38 and 40 which are spaced apart a distance less than the diameter of the golf ball. This distance is indicated by the line Z in FIGURE 5. The spaced curved arms 38 and 4% are curved at least at their ends 42 and 44 which are the ball contacting portions. The configuration of the curve is further set to generally follow the curvature of the golf ball in substantially complete contact at a point measured by the distance Z. It is particularly provided that the arms 38, 40 be formed from substantially rigid and hard materials such as an appropriate metal. This forms a more successful wedging hold on the golf ball, and such wedged golf ball is indicated by phantom 46. v

The spaced arms are joined at the top by a connecting piece or head 48' which may be tfionmed integrally with the spaced arms. The head preferably has an opening 50 to receive the threaded st b 52 of the ball part 54- in a ball and joint connection. The stub may be held in the head by threaded cap, sleeve or the like 56. In this form I the Clo-acting socket portion 58 for the ball and socket joint fixed to the end 68 of an elongated rod which may have telescoping portions to extend its length. Two of such partly telescoping portions are partly indicated at 62. A resilient collar 64 may be positioned on the elongated handle where smaller handle section 60 telescopes into bigger handle section 62 so that the handle is fixedly held in any particular extended position. For

more rugged construction, the ball and joint shown here may be formed from long life metals such as brass, but a more economical joint made from cheaper materials may be substituted.

In FIGURE 6 I show a wedging unit generally as 66 at one end of the elongated handle section 60, which may be extended by mating various other sections. The wedging unit has a generally bulb or botwl shape formed from an aggregate of rigid but resilient loops such as 72 made preferably from a sprinigy wi re. Batch loop has spaced legs such as 72a and 72b which are gathered and held within a. tube or collar such as 74, which may be frictionall-y fitted or otherwise secured to the ends of the handle or handle section 60.- A number of such loops are crossed to the adjoining curred leg to form the bowl shape. A pair of adjoining legs such as 76 and '78 form an entry port for the golf ball. The greatest distance separating such legs, generally by line W, is less than the diameter of the golf ball. The curved legs forming the port are wedged over the golf ball whereupon passage of the golf ball through the port forces the resilient legs wider apart until they spread to a dimension generally close to the diameter of the entering golf ball. Once the diameter of the golf ball passes the port, then the resilient legs return .to their closer spacing until the widest dimension of the port again assumes the distance W. The ball is now within the area confined by the plurality of resilient loops. In this embodiment a number of golf balls can be successively picked up by the wedging action of the resilient members and held therein. Three such confined golf balls are indicated in phantom line at 82, 84 and 86.

The use and operation of my invention are as follows:

My golf ball retriever operates by at least in part wedging the golf ball between spaced separated wcdging mem bers. The golf ball may be held in a wedged position between such members or it may move in wedging passage through such members which are resilient, as illustrated in FIGURE 6.

It is a particular advantage that various golf ball retriever units may be economically manufactured from easily available material such as plastic. 1, however, provide that the spaced, resilient members of FIGURES 2 and be made from hard rigid material such as metals, to obtain the best wedging action. In the various embodiments, the welding unit is preferably joined to the end of a handle by a hinge joint, universal joint or any equivalent pivotal joint so that the wedging unit may be selectively positioned to best retrieve the golf ball.

A golf ball may be resting on an incline or submerged slope of a creek, whereupon the rolling wedge cup of FIGURES 13 or the wedging claw of FIGURES 4 and 5 or the bulb unit of FIGURE 6 would be angled so the .wedging unit could make appropriate contact with the ball. The rolling wedge of FIGURE 3 would be turned so a wider angle would be formed with, for example, the top wall and the adjoining surface of the elongated handle. The wedging unit of FIGURES 4 or 5 can he angled so that the opening between the spaced curved members would be closer to the bottom of the handle on one side of the lwedging claw, as shown in FIGURE 5. The wedging unit of FIGURE 6 can likewise be angled although the ports may be generally manipulated so that they are pressed against the golf ball.

The spaced members of FIGURES 1 to 3 are set apart at generally equal distances along their length which distances are generally equal to the diameter of the golf ball. As the golf ball rolls towards the rear of the cup, greater sunfiaice area of the side walls, from the greater height of said walls, will wedge the hall more tightly. The pressure and movement required to wedge the ball is slight which allows the user to operate with a delicate touch when the ball is in places of very difiicult accessibility.

The spaced curved members of FIGURES 4 and 5 are spaced about a distance Z which is less than the diameter of the golf ball. In this embodiment, the curved bottoms 42, 44 of the spaced curved members generally follow the spherical surface of the golf ball at points less than the diameter of the golf ball. This unit surprisingly claws the ball with only modest, momentary pressure contact. The hall is held securely therein, and yet there is no damage to the covering of the ball.

The embodiment of FIGURE 6 has added utility in that more than one golf ball may be held within the area confined by the resilient lloopso Whereas the other wedging units are more likely to be used to retrieve a ball at inaccessible spots on the playing course, the embodiment of FIGURE 6 may also be used, for example, on a putting green to pick up several halls without bothering to stoop or bend down.

The foregoing invention can now be practiced by those skilled in the art who will know that the invention is not necessarily restricted to the particular embodiments presented herein. The scope of the invent-ion is to be defined by the terms of the following claims in view of the preceding description.

I claim:

1. A golf ball retriever which includes an elongated handle, a ball wedging unit at the end of the handle, the hall wedging unit having spaced side walls, the upper portions of said side walls being directed towards each other, each side wall having a length greater than the diameter of the golf ball so the ball may roll along the length of the side wall, and each side wall increasing in height forward to rearward, whereby a golf ball is progressively wedged more tightly as it rolls from between smaller side wall areas to between greater side wall areas.

2. A golf ball retriever as in claim 1 further characterized in that the wedging unit is pivotally joined to the end of the elongated handle by a sphere pivot-ally movable in a resilient cup seated in a hollow end of said elongated handle.

3. A golf ball retriever as in claim 1 further charao terized in that the wedging unit is a cup having an end wall and a top wall in addition to the spaced walls, the top wall inclined from a low forward point to a high rear warnd point, the end wall joining the top wall at the high rearward point, and said cup pivotally joined to the end of a handle by a double socket resilient cup, one socket of the cup secured tothe wedging cup and the other socket cfri'ctionally and movably holding a sphere connected to theend of the elongated handle.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,658,145 2/1928 Uyei 294--19 2,058,709 10/1936 Molinare 294-19 2,523,942 9/1950 Ciambriello 294-99 X 2,749,697 6/1956 Poche 29419 2,819,108 1/1958 Borah 29419 3,046,044 7/1962 Christie 294-19 3,136,573 6/1964- Harke 29419 GERALD M. FORLENZA, Primary Examiner. A. GRANT, G. F. ABRAHAM, Assistant Examiners. 

1. A GOLF BALL RETRIEVER WHICH INCLUDES AN ELONGATED HANDLE, A BALL WEDGING UNIT AT THE END OF THE HANDLE, THE BALL WEDGING UNIT HAVING SPACED SIDE WALLS, THE UPPER PORTIONS OF SAID SIDE WALLS BEING DIRECTED TOWARDS EACH OTHER, EACH SIDE WALL HAVING A LENGTH GREATER THAN THE DIAMETER OF THE GOLF BALL SO THE BALL MAY ROLL ALONG THE LENGTH OF THE SIDE WALL, AND EACH SIDE WALL INCREASING IN HEIGHT FORWARD 